18 Responses

That “sick old man” and that “goofy white girl” are both Finders. And so is the “creepy ju ju man” that encouraged Jack to tell Coward everything. Jack’s caught in the dynamic of three Finders. Not an easy place to be.

I haven’t seen the tattoo on him. But he has figured out a lot on his own. So he might be, but I have the feeling he’s not. I think that this situation he’s in is sort of like his Finder initiation. If he finds what he’s looking for, then he’s “in”. Like Rachel looking for her ring was her initiation. Jack’s got to channel this simmering anger of his towards a solution.

I’m kinda fuzzy on the definition, too. I’m sure there are many others that can define it better than I can. My sense of a “Finder” is a spiritual/intuitive detective. They are signified secretly but openly by the tattoo pattern you find on Rachel’s neck. Jaeger used to have the tattoo on his hand, but in “Torch”, you find it on the back of his neck like the symbol for Aries. Coward has it as a large circle on his back. It’s visible in King of the Cats. Finders don’t get paid for what they do. However, Jaeger gets paid to be a Sin-eater.

Finders basically apply the whole of what they are – intellect and intuition and body – to their goals. Sometimes they break the rules to do so.

Marcie sort of became a Finder in Talisman, in her quest for the story that Jaeger told her. I think she came to wear the Finder symbol carved on a rock that hung around her neck.

The concept of the “Finder” was introduced in the beginning of “Sin-eater”. Before the WordPress version of this website, the Intro to the whole Finder series was shown, but now it’s just “Torch”.

There was something about Finders “helping by standing apart” which I took to mean they were like Jaeger; outsiders and not full members of any clan. Ironically, my “Finder” books are lost somewhere, so I can’t see exactly how it was described. .

I don’t think Jack OR Rachel are Finders proper. Rachel… well, she got lucky. But she tries too hard to do things that should almost literally fall in her lap.

Jaeger on the other hand, now there’s a Finder – he doesn’t go searching specifically but once he sees something, he knows that it’ll become important. I suspect that Rachel put the tattoo on her more to *attract* Finders, than *appear* to be one.

Rache said once that putting on the tattoo calmed her down … we know she wants to be badass like Jaeger … and she sure did fine work finding a home for Coward’s clan – but not a Finder in the secret-society sense of Jaeger and Coward. Scared for her with the Orianna and the drinking, and scared for everybody with Jack like that … he’s got the makings of a Lynne-level Techno-badass about him, and disobeying wise Coward like that he could bring his people some real trouble. Unless Coward wants him to rebel, in which case just worried for him…

“The Finders are now mainly forgotten. They were hunters, and trackers, and more. They lived secret lives. Most people didn’t know who had or hadn’t been accepted into their secret society. Their skills were honed to artistry. To catch the slightest glimpse of one against his intent was rare indeed, and brought great censure from his brethren. Some lived as ordinary people; others undertook great missions, travelling vast distances alone and unknown. IT WAS THE WAY OF THE FINDER TO HELP HIS PEOPLE BY STANDING APART FROM THEM, SEEING THEM AS ONLY AN OUTSIDER CAN. But for those who needed to ask for help directly, there WERE ways to speak to the Finders. Those customs still linger, although the reasons are also mainly forgotten. And customs change. For a while, Finders even wore the signal pattern openly, secure in the knowledge that only other Finders knew what it meant.”

I don’t know what formal or distinct rite of passage there is for becoming a Finder. That’s never been shown, if it exists.

What makes a Finder proper? A ritual? Recognition by another Finder? One’s own belief that one IS a Finder? Dunno.

But when “Voice” was coming out online, Carla did confirm to me in email that in trying to find a Finder (Jaeger) to find her ring, Rachel was at least on her way to becoming a Finder.

I’ll take that into consideration. But if Carla provides notes on the back-details, in her graphic novels, might she not be ok with some of the details from emails? I certainly can’t speak for Carla, and I certainly don’t want to be in trouble with her. And I’m not blabbing. I’m holding back.

And would she dry up? I certainly don’t want that. But she has shown herself to be like a nearly limitless river. But I certainly don’t want to take the river for granted.

Don’t stress, guys. Watching you guys jump around on hot pavement is good fun. If there were any danger of your comments interrupting my work process, sure, I’d have to choose between destroying you all from my orbiting laser platform and shutting down comments, but you’re nowhere near that point.